This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 10-265270, filed Sep. 18, 1998; No. 10-292819, filed Sep. 30, 1998; No. 10-292821, filed Sep. 30, 1998; No. 10-292823, filed Sep. 30, 1998; No. 10-292826, filed Sep. 30, 1998; and No. 10-292827, filed Sep. 30, 1998, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which are suitable for recording various types of information, including video information and/or audio information, and further computer data, onto a recording medium.
In the information recording method and device, various types of information are recorded continuously onto an information storage medium without logical intermission. In the information storage medium, the recorded information includes information about a data structure that enables the recorded information to be managed effectively and reproduced continuously.
There are laser disks (LDS) and digital video (DVD) disks used as information storage mediums on which video information or audio information has been recorded. The information storage mediums, however, are only for playback use and have no defective area thereon.
There are DVD-RAM disks used as mediums for storing computer information. This type of medium enables additional recording. In addition, a method of replacing a defective area occurring on the information storage medium has been established.
One known method of replacing a defective area occurring in recording computer information on a RAM disk is a linear replacement process.
This process is a method of, when a defect has occurred, securing a replacement area in a spare area secured in another area physically separate from a user area and setting a logical block number (LBN) in the replacement area. In this method, when a defective area has occurred in the middle of recording or reproducing information onto or from a disk, the optical head has to record the data in the spare area in a physically separate position and thereafter return to the position where it interrupted the recording and resume recording the subsequent data. This results in the frequent movement of the optical head.
In the computer system, the control hierarchy is divided into a video recording and reproducing application software (hereinafter, abbreviated as recording/reproducing application) layer, a file system layer, and an optical disk drive (ODD) layer in the section for processing information and recording and reproducing information.
Commands acting as interfaces have been defined between the layers. Addresses dealt with at each layer differ from one level of hierarchy to another. Specifically, the recording/reproducing application layer deals with audio and video addresses (commonly known as AV addresses), the file system layer deals with logical sector numbers (LSN) or logical block numbers (LBN) on the basis of AV addresses, and the optical disk drive layer deals with physical sector numbers (PSN) on the basis of logical sector numbers (LSN) or logical block numbers (LBN).
Now, consider a case where video information or audio information according to the recording format of a DVD video disk is recorded on a DVD-RAM disk. As described above, when the linear replacement process is performed as a method of processing (replacing) a defect, each time a defective ECC block is encountered in recording, the head has to move back and fourth between the user area explained later and the spare area.
Such frequent access of the optical head in recording permits the amount of video information stored in the buffer memory to exceed the memory capacity because of the transfer speed and data amount of the input data, the access time in recording, the buffer memory capacity, and others, which makes continuous recording impossible.
Although it is hoped that video information to be recorded is managed in the video recording and reproducing application software layer without the burden of managing defects on the information storage medium, if many defective areas have occurred on the information storage medium, a conventional method permits the influence of defects in the information storage medium to extend even to the video recording and reproducing application software layer, which makes stable video information management difficult.
Furthermore, in the case of recordable and reproducible disks, there has been a desire that they should be used for not only AV data but also various types of information recording.
(1) It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which have specific recording units set therein and enable environmental setting to achieve stable video information management (specifically, a video information recording, reproducing, and editing method in a system) even if a defective area or another data area exists in the specific recording units. According to the present invention, there are also provided an information recording device and an information reproducing device which have a most suitable system for realizing the above environment.
(2) Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which improve the method of managing AV file identification information to make it easier to identify and manage different types of data.
(3) Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which maintain the boundary between specific data block units (for example, ECC units) using unused extents, thereby facilitating the error correction management of data and the additional recording process and management of subsequent data, when AV data is recorded.
(4) Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which not only search in advance for a place where AV data is to be recorded to prevent data from being recorded in another data area or a defective area, but also have the function of securing a recording area to prevent errors in recording.
(5) Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which always write data in, for example, error correction codes (ECC) block units in recording data in such a manner that they perform reading control at the beginning of writing, search for the recorded state of the error correction codes, and write data while maintaining the block units of the error correction codes, thereby improving the data writing efficiency and assuring the reliability of the error correcting process of data.
(6) Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording method, an information recording device, an information reproducing device, and an information storage medium which are additionally provided with a file partial delete command, thereby enabling editing to be done more easily.
The foregoing objects are accomplished as follows:
(A) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method or apparatus which uses a head for recording information onto at least an information storage medium, a head moving mechanism for moving the head to the information storage medium, and a control section for controlling the moving position of the head by controlling the head moving mechanism to record information onto the information storage medium, the information recording method or apparatus characterized by
defining a file unit as a first unit to record information onto the information storage medium and further defining a contiguous data area unit serving as a continuous recording area as a second unit to decrease the frequency of accessing of the optical head and thereby enable apparently continuous recording on the information storage medium,
doing recording in the contiguous data area units and organizing a collection of contiguous data area units into the file unit, and providing an information recording place in such a manner that the contiguous data area unit is so set that it extends over the recording area of another file already recorded on the information storage medium and a defective area on the information storage medium. There is further provided a recording medium with such a recording place.
(B) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method or apparatus characterized in that file entry information is recorded in the data area on the information recording medium and identification information about a file to be entered is recorded in the file entry information. There is further provided a storage medium on which such information has been recorded.
(C) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method or apparatus characterized by having a first recording unit to be recorded on the information storage medium and a second recording unit larger than the first recording unit, defining an unused area at the end of the recording area in the second recording units, and recording information using the unused area in the next recording. Alternatively, there is provided a storage medium on which information has been recorded in such a manner.
(D) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method or apparatus characterized by searching for an unused area on the information storage medium, creating and allocating position information in extent units serving as units of continuous recording to the searched area, and recording the extent position information in a management area. There is further provided a storage medium on which such information has been recorded.
(E) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method or apparatus characterized by recording information in error correction code units and, when the end of the recording information has extended to the middle of an error correction code unit, supplementing the deficiency in the recording information with padding to keep the error correction code unit. There is further provided a storage medium on which such data has been recorded.
(F) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method or apparatus characterized by reading the error correction code unit in the already written recording information at the beginning of writing and, when the end of the recording information has extended to the middle of an error correction code unit between an unused area and an already used area, writing additional data to keep the error correction code unit and thereafter writing data in error correction code units. There is further provided a storage medium on which such data has been recorded.
(G) According to the present invention, there is provided an information recording method characterized by comprising
a first recording process layer for controlling an information recording and reproducing device that records information onto an information storage medium,
a second recording layer which is a file system part that controls locations in which information is to be recorded and which controls the first recording process layer, and
a third recording process layer acting as an application layer that gives a command to the second recording process layer,
in such a manner that these layers are constructed so as to form control data groups for recording or reproducing information in information recording file units onto or from the information recording medium, and
by having a command to cause the third recording process layer to instruct the second recording process layer to delete only part of the file unit. Alternatively, there is provided an apparatus characterized by comprising the above layers. Still alternatively, there is provided a storage medium which is accessed in such a manner.
Also provided is an information storage medium having a lead-in area; a data area; and a lead-out area, wherein the information storage medium is configured to store control information an AV file and file management information for managing at least the AV file and for including file entry information in the data area. AV data is stored in the AV file the file management information manages a position of the AV file, the file entry information includes a file type of the AV file and an allocation descriptor indicating a position of an extent, an application layer sets an information processing method with respect to the AV file, a file system layer and a disk drive or a physical layer are defined, the application layer uses an AV address as address information, the file system layer uses a logical block number and a logical sector number as address information, the disk drive layer or the physical layer uses a physical sector number as address information, the logical block number and the logical sector number are associated with each other, and the logical sector number and the physical sector number are associated with each other, the AV data in the AV file is distributed physically in each of extents, the distributed AV data is managed using the AV address in a contiguous order, the start address of the AV file is set as xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d, the control information manages a video object including the AV data by using the AV address, and the control information includes a plurality of program chain information which control a reproducing order of the video object, the plurality of program chain information include a plurality of cell information defined by a plurality of cells each of the cells represents a play back period of the video object through each of the cell information and the difference cells belonging to the difference program chains, respectively, partially refer to the portion of the video object representing the playback period.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.